Karnal, December 29
Even though the Chairman of the Delimitation Commission, Justice Kuldip Singh, turned down on Tuesday the demand of its associate members from Haryana to prepare a new working paper on the basis of which the delimitation work of the Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies should be done, Punjabis have alleged that they had been ignored by the panel while preparing the working paper.

Punjabis, especially Sikhs, of Haryana expressed their dissatisfaction in the manner in which the constituencies, largely populated by them, were either being sought to be reserved for the SCs or merged with adjacent constituencies in the working paper.

Talking to The Tribune, a former Speaker of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Mr Tara Singh Virk, said over one-thirds of total voters in the Assandh and Jundla constituencies, that fall under Karnal district, and the Shahabad constituency, that fall under Kurukshetra district, were Punjabis and a significant number among them was of Sikhs.

Ignoring the fact of large population of Punjabis and Sikhs, the Jundla constituency is sought to be ceased and merged with four adjacent constituencies of Nilokheri, Gharaunda, Assandh and Karnal, whereas the Shahabad constituency is sought to be reserved, he added.

Mr Tara Singh, who had won four Assembly and one parliament elections, said Punjabis were expecting that the Assandh constituency would be made general, but it was sought to be continued as reserved for the SCs.

Corroborating his statement, the senior vice-president of the SGPC and state president of the youth wing of the SAD, Mr Raghujit Singh Virk, demanded that the Jundla constituency should not be ceased and it, along with Assandh and Shahabad constituencies, should be brought under the general category.

Mr Tara Singh said the fact that a large portion of population in the Shahabad constituency comprised Sikhs and Punjabis held ground with Punjabis winning most of times from this constituency whereas Assandh and Jundla constituencies had been reserved for the past several decades.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Sikhs of Karnal district was held under the presidentship of Mr Tara Singh in this regard here today. Expressing unhappiness over the proposal, the meeting decided that a delegation of Sikhs and Punjabis would meet Mr Kuldip Singh and make a formal demand for review of the proposal in their favour.

Former Deputy Director, Agriculture, Gurdial Singh Sandhu, Dr Balbir Singh Gill, Mr Partap Singh Randhawa, Mr Babu Ram and Mr Surinder Singh Sandhu were also present at the meeting.

Chandigarh, December 29
The biggest challenge before the Hooda government in Haryana is the power sector. There is a saying that in Haryana it is the “power” (electricity) which determines which party will come to power in the next elections. Whether it is the question of pending bills or regularity of electricity supply, the poll results are affected to a large extent by power.

The Hooda government has been able to successfully resolve the long-standing issue of the pending electricity bills of farmers in a manner that it will not be an issue in the next elections. However, it has not been so successful when it comes to ensuring a reasonably satisfactory power supply. The energy demand is bound to increase and over the years the state’s captive generation capacity has not kept pace with the growing demand. The government has inherited the problem and is aware of the dangers ahead.

It has already signed a number of agreements with certain private parties for setting up power projects. It has also urged the Centre to set up a nuclear power plant in Haryana. However, these are long-term measures, which will take at least three years to fructify. In the meantime the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will have to hold several brain-storming sessions with his advisers to find out how to improve the situation.

Mr Hooda will have to take hard decisions. Instead of sticking to niceties, he will have to engage competent technocrats and professionals, and even perhaps certain old hands, and make them accountable to improve the functioning of the power utilities and ensure that whatever generation capacity the state has, is exploited to the maxium. It is not necessary that defence personnel and bureaucrats should have solutions to all problems.

The quality of education being imparted in the state is another area of concern. The government is planning to set up Rajiv Gandhi Education City, the standard of which, it claims, will be no less than that of Oxford University. It sounds good. But Haryana will gain from the proposed education city in the long run only if it has the raw stock to feed it. Unless the standard of education at all levels, primary, middle and secondary, is improved, Haryanavi students will not be able to make it to the indigenous Oxford University. They will also miss the fruits of rapid industrialisation the Hooda government dreams for the state. If local talent is not available, entrepreneurs will look elsewhere.

The state government has made a beginning in improving the education sector. It has ensured that admissions to professional courses like MBBS, engineering and junior basic teachers(JBT) training are made strictly on merit. The manner in which Maharshi Dayanand University conducted the entrance test to the MBBS course, earned kudos. Similarly, unlike in the past several years, there was no controversy on the admission to the JBT course this year.

The adverse sex ratio in the state has drawn the attention of the government. Though it has taken several measures to check the menace, it needs the strong support of religious and voluntary organisations to change the mindset of people.

Panchkula, December 29
The housing scheme launched by the Housing Board, Haryana, in Bahadurgarh has many firsts to its credit. For the first time, a government housing board has taken guarantee that all future enhanced land compensation will be absorbed by it, and not levied on the allotees.

Floated on December 21, this scheme is also the first in the country where 33 per cent of the total flats and houses are reserved for women applicants. Triple-storeyed flats and independent houses in Sector 7 of Bahadurgarh are on offer under this scheme.

The scheme offers as many as 76 houses (of varying sizes, 280 sq yards to 120 sq yards) and for 222 flats (998-1387 sq feet area). The houses are priced between Rs 16. 10 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, while the flats are priced between Rs 20. 30 lakh to Rs 9.10 lakh (these are tentative prices and subject to revision). While 40 per cent of the amount will have to be paid by the successful allottee up front, the remaining amount will have to be paid over a period of 10 years.

Officials in the Housing Board say that this is the first time that the Board has decided to absorb any enhanced land compensation, if awarded to the original land owners. Most of the time, allottees of plots allotted by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), or the houses by the Housing Board, Haryana, have to pay a large number of enhancement charges, after the original land owners are awarded compensation by the court.

This is a major bone of contention between the allotees and the two housing agencies, as allotees have to sometimes pay two or three enhancement costs.

“Another major achievement is that 33 per cent of the houses/ flats are reserved for single or first women applicants. The idea behind this is the Board’s commitment to economic empowerment of women,” said a senior official.

Housing Board officials say that as compared to a mere 10 per cent women applicants in the schemes earlier, they hope that this reservation for women will lead to at least an eightfold increase in women applicants for their housing schemes.

Panchkula, December 29
Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has reduced the rate of interest charged from allottees from 11 per cent to 9 per cent.

The decision was taken in the meeting of the HUDA Authority held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, here tonight. While the possession offer interest has been reduced from 11 per cent to 9 per cent, the defaulting period interest (charged when the allottee defaults in his payment) charged by HUDA has been reduced from 14 per cent to 11 per cent.

Official sources informed TNS that while HUDA had proposed that the defaulting period interest be reduced from 14 per cent to 12 per cent, and possession offer interest be reduced from 11 per cent to 10 per cent, the Authority decided to reduce it by an additional 1 per cent, so that the allottees are benefitted.

The rate of interest has been reduced by HUDA Authority after a gap of three years. On November 13, 2002, the possession offer interest was reduced from 15 per cent to 11 per cent, and defaulting period interest from 18 per cent to 14 per cent.

Among others present in the meeting were Chief Secretary, Ms Meenakshi Anand Chaudhary, Principal Secretary Mr M L Tayal, Financial Commissioner, Town and Country Planning, Ms Shakuntala Jakhu and other members of the Authority.

Sonepat, December 29
A large number of industrialists participated in a day-long dharna organised by the Steel Furnace Association of Haryana on the GT Road, near Bahalgarh village, about 10 km from here, today in protest against the frequent and long spells of unorganised and unscheduled power cuts in the industrial sector by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam for the past six months.

According to a report, the industrialists held a demonstration and raised anti-government and anti-nigam slogans.

Mr Sat Narain Aggarwal, president of the state unit of the association, in a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Ms Neerja Shekhar, said here that the power supply in this area had been erratic for the past six months and it was impossible for them to run their units. The steel and furnace units, he said, were the worst-hit and many of them had already been closed. He threatened that all the steel units would be closed indefinitely if the power supply was not made available.

Jhajjar, December 29
A teenaged girl was missing from her house in Bahadurgarh for the past more than one month. However, the police has not been able to trace her despite the family of the girl was providing inputs about her whereabouts.

The police, however, maintained that its teams were trying to track down the girl who had gone with a youth allegedly on her own will. Sources told the girl had left behind a letter which indicated that she had willingly left the house and went to the youth who was residing in her neighbouring house earlier.

Jaiveer Singh, a brother of the missing girl, alleged that the police was taking the case lightly and not cooperating with them. He had sent complaints to the Inspector-General of Police, the National Commission for Women and the SP to recover his sister as she was being held in captivity. He said the girl had contacted her about two weeks ago but now she could not be contacted.

He told his sister was in the captivity of Jaikishan and Rammurthi, residents of Uttar Pradesh. He also met the local MLA, Mr Rajender Singh Joon, who reportedly pulled up the police.

Chandigarh, December 29
The Haryana Cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, decided to defer the proposal to hike the bus fares in the state.

The Transport Department had proposed an increase of 10 per cent in the bus fares in view of the increase in the cost of diesel and other inputs, which had resulted in a loss of Rs 60 crore to Haryana Roadways.

Ambala, December 29
Rohtak MP Deepinder Hooda today observed that the power shortage was a temporary phase in the state and it would not have any impact on the foreign investment in Haryana.

Talking to mediaperons here today, Mr Hooda said, Haryana was facing power shortage due to problem in the northern grid. He said the state government had taken steps to solve the power problem and production of power had been increased.

Mr Hooda further added that the sting operation on MPs, in which they were shown accepting bribe for asking questions, was unfortunate. He said it was a blot on democracy. The MPs were expelled and it was a step to check corruption. He said new MPs were performing well. TNS

Ambala, December 29
A camp was organised on the premises of PKR Jain Vatika School, Ambala City.

Students stayed in the school for three days. The objective of the camp was to make the students independent, disciplined and adventurous. The children learn to pack their things, take care of their belongings, setting beds and making friends.

The students learnt tips on first aid by Mr N.K. Saini. Sign language was also taught to the children. On the last day today, the children played treasure hunt by using sign language. TNS